For all the talk of global warming and extreme weather events being on the increase, 2013 bucks that trend in almost every respect. It's not just the current hurricane season that is well behind seasonal averages. For example, the number of tornadoes this year sits at 771. This is compared to the average number of tornadoes annually since 2000 of 1342. Admittedly, we still have 2 months left in the year though November and December are not typically big tornado quantity months.

With regards to hurricanes, thus far this year we've only had 2 named storms achieve hurricane status (Humberto and Ingrid). Each of these storms was only a hurricane for a short time and never exceeded Category 1 status. The lack of tropical activity isn't just contained to the Atlantic. The Eastern Pacific, also, has not had any major (Category 3 or higher) hurricanes yet this year. The only other year in which neither had a major storm was 1968. We are also in the midst of the longest period of time without a major storm hitting the U.S. since the mid-late 1800s. We have not had a major storm hit since Wilma in late October 2005.

Other extreme forms of weather are also down for 2013. The number and affected acreage of wildfires are both down considerably this year. We have seen a total of 40,306 wildfires this year affecting a total acreage of 4,152,390. This is compared to the average of 2004 - 2012 of 75,066 wildfires and 7,602,762 acres. As for the number of high temperature records set this year (both high maximum and high minimum temperatures), we are also seeing a significant reduction from last year. For the year to date, we have set 23,110 new "high" records as opposed to 58,115 for the same time frame last year. Finally, we're on pace in 2013 for the fewest number of 100°F days in a year in nearly 100 years.